


Interference

by hakura0



Category: Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Captain America (2011), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel (Movies), Thor (2011)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-21
Updated: 2012-04-20
Packaged: 2017-11-04 00:56:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 12,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/387883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hakura0/pseuds/hakura0
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[I incorporate parts of more than one Avengers canon, so there is a little of everything, and it's own universe entirely.]</p><p>All is quiet in the Avengers Headquarters. But all is not well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

There is nothing in the darkness but a pale blue pulse of light, so far as he can see. He knows there is a room, and he knows the light has to have a source, but as pale as it is, it blinds him. He cannot manage a step forward, and before he can make sense of anything, Steve Rogers wakes up. It is just another morning.

It has been quiet in the Avengers Mansion since their last fight, and quiet in the world. They busy themselves inside, the air tense in anticipation, and they mingle and swap thoughts on what might happen, or stories, or they train. Thor doesn't go home even with the quiet, and when he's asked he won't say why. Everyone has their reasons for not leaving, everyone but Tony and his absence. He stays busy in his lab, separate from the one that shared space with Hank once upon a time. None of their cards will let them in, and to their bafflement, Hulk's frustration doesn't manage to open the door either. The same of Thor.

It's only then that Tony comes in over the intercom, half chiding them and asking if they wouldn't mind leaving the place standing, assuring them he was fine, but busy, and that Jarvis could take care of anything they needed. 

"Anything?" Steve asks into the intercom, after the others have grumbled off and he's alone. The silence lasts long enough that he almost thinks he isn't going to get an answer, but Tony's voice filters through in the second before his patience lapses.

"You really want me to answer that, Cap?"


	2. Chapter 2

_There's something wrong about all this_ , Bruce tells him, standing in the doorway of the room that had finally been remade to fit the Hulk. His expression is set, and the Hulk's turns scrutinizing and perturbed in return.  
  
"You think Hulk doesn't know that? Door-"  
  
 _It didn't 'smash'_ , Bruce agrees, quickly, as if in an attempt to assuage any insult the Hulk might have gotten from his comment. _But there are no doors that can hold you._  
  
"You finished stating obvious?" He takes a step forward, and Bruce holds up his hands in an entirely futile gesture, but one that makes the Hulk stop in any case.   
  
_No. We need to talk to Iron Man. Something is going on and Tony Stark is in the middle of it. It's_ his _mansion, and I say since he's talking it's about time we go get him to actually say something. Or we can go to_ _bed_ _. What do you think?_  
  
There's a long moment of silence before the Hulk slowly smiles in something like determination. "Let's go."  
  
There is no one near the intercom next to the door when they get there, and after staring at the electronic device a moment, Hulk raises his fist.   
  
A sigh comes from over the speakers at the same time that the door itself opens with a sigh of air. "You might as well come in. Hulk, _Bruce._ Before anyone notices, _if you don't mind_."   
  
The lab is as brightly lit as always, and Hulk moves into it short of stealthily, but it doesn't matter, and the door slides shut behind him.  
  
Tony is sitting with his back to them, his attention spread between an array of screens that Hulk can't quite manage to make sense of, and he doesn't turn to face them.  
  
"Window. Look out it," Tony tells him, gesturing briefly in the direction, and not even wincing as Hulk knocks through the lab, accidentally-on-purpose. There's a long pause, nad Tony can practically hear the wheels trying to turn in the Hulk's head. "I need you. Both of you. You're in there Banner, I know that, and you've got to know what you're looking at. If you want to leave, well... Come on, there's no stopping _you_ is there?"  
  
"You did. How?" The Hulk asks him, and Tony only shakes his head.  
  
"That's all you get to know. Really, if you want to leave, I'm not going to stop you. I've told you all I can for now though. You'll just have to trust me if you stay. How about it?"  
  
The Hulk narrows his eyes at him and Tony still doesn't look, he takes a step forward, anger growing in him. "Outside-" he starts, and he's barely feet away from Tony when Bruce appears in his gaze, his expression torn.   
  
Bruce shakes his head, and the Hulk hesitates but turns around and stomps to the door in silence, and Tony doesn't relax, but his fingers stop moving for just long enough for him to mutter a quiet, "Thank you."


	3. Chapter 3

As large as the mansion is, Thor can't help but start to think that it crowds him. There is some tingling at the back of his neck that he cannot understand. That neither he nor Hulk could manage to get through the door to where Iron Man was remained worrying, even after the fact. 

He grows restless, but even then cannot bring himself to leave. There is that tension in the air, almost tangible. It is reminiscient of a coming storm, the feeling of being surrounded by charged air. It is not overall _strange_ and, before then, it did not bother him. Until it bothers him, he doesn't take the time to notice that there is never any sign of the actual storm.

Of the days since he has been home, he has lost count, and he feels that he should be more troubled for the fact, but he is not. There is naught to do except try to take a survey of these feelings, and he does not know what they add up to.

It is with a tenuous curiousity that Thor approaches the speaker in his room, but he tries to keep the apprehension from his voice when he calls upon it. "Computer?"

[HOW MAY I BE OF SERVICE, THOR?] the computer responds almost immediately, and he's left to figure out a way to gather his thoughts. Tony had called it an intelligence, had he not? So there was the possibility it knew something.

"There... I feel that there is something _wrong_." Thor says, his gaze carefully focused on the small screen, and his fists held at his sides.

[YES?] Jarvis asks him, and again, he is left to gather his thoughts, and attempt to communicate properly with the device and solicit a useful response.

"In the mansion..."

[NO], it tells Thor, simply, and for a moment leaves him confused.

"Did you not just agree that something was wrong, computer? Why do you take back your words? Is the security of this stronghold not one of your responsibilities?" Thor demands, his eyes flashing for a moment in something like challenge as he reaches for Mjolnir's handle.

[I MERELY MEANT THAT THERE IS NOTHING WRONG IN THE MANS-] 

It is a rather regrettable lapse in judgement, and a matter of reflexes that leads to the destruction of the device, and the he watches as a few idle sparks cling to his arm. They do not even tingle, and it gives him pause.

The pause lasts but mere seconds before he is walking with a newfound determination out the door and down the grand stairwell to the door of the mansion.

"Friends!" He calls, though he does not wait or offer an explanation, merely goes until his hand is on the door, unknowing of who is heeding him, if any. For just a moment, the world feels like it stops, as he puts a hand on the door and the sharp scent of ozone overwhelms him.

The door opens smoothly in his hand a moment after, and sheets of rain pour down relentlessly on an otherwise foggy, gray afternoon.


	4. Chapter 4

It doesn't take long for Steve to reach the door after Thor's exclamation, and he stands just behind him, looking between the man and the view outside for a moment before putting a hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong?"

Thor shakes his head at the question, his expression troubled. "I... I am not sure. Something is- even the computer agreed, but..." He drifts off, his eyes suddenly sharp, and he takes a step outside under the rain and looks up.

"Thor..?" he asks, taking a step after him that he's not completely sure why he hesitates to do. He can hear the Hulk approaching from behind, and there is something eerie in his silence. 

"It is not raining." Thor says finally, turning to look at them, confusion furrowing his face despite the firmness of his tone. 

Steve reaches his hand out and lets the rain beat against it for a moment, feels the cold drops that seem real to him, even as Thor watches.

"It is not true rain. I cannot explain, but..." His sentence trails again, and this time Steve picks it up for him.

"But something about it. About all of this, maybe, is-"

"Wrong," Hulk interrupts, and they both turn to look at him as he glares past them into the rain. 

"Precisely-" Thor starts to say, but he is cut off by a raised hand from the Hulk. 

"Shut up." Hulk says, turning his attention to the area just inside the door. Steve can't make out anyone there, but before anyone else can say anything Hulk speaks again. "Friends should know. Never said 'don't tell'-"

"Hulk..?" Steve interrupts carefully, continuing when he's finally managed to gain his attention. "What should we know?"

There's a long moment before Hulk tears his gaze almost pointedly away from the empty space. "Iron Man showed...a window. Different outside."

"What window was it? Can you show us?" He asks him.

"No. Through that door." Hulk tells him, and it takes a moment for them to realize what he means.

"He let you in?" Steve asks, a pang of something in his chest that he doesn't let reflect on his face, in his voice. 

"Yeah," he's told, and there's a moment before Hulk's face lights up into an almost scary grin. "Hulk will make him let you see, too."

"A commendable idea, if he is keeping things, we should find out-" Thor cuts in, but he himself is cut short as Tony's voice comes from a nearby intercom.

"Okay, okay. I really wish you'd listen to Bruce sometimes, Hulk, but... If this is how we're going to be playing this, fine. You guys can all come say hi, and I'll take some time out of my busy schedule. But Thor, really, do you mind closing the door first? You're going to let in a draft."

There is a sort of startled silence between the three of them, and it is Thor that breaks it first, returning inside and closing the door behind him with a brief undirected, "Apologies."

They file into the now open lab in a kind of tense continued silence. He doesn't turn or look up when they enter, though he speaks briefly. "Hulk, you mind showing them your window?"

Hulk leads them, Thor's attentions stuck on the window while Steve's linger on Tony for just a moment before he follows.

The world outside of Tony's window is dead, a mess of dirt and distant ruins beyond the gates. 

"I've given him the spiel, if you want to go, I won't stop you. I can tell you that yes, Thor, the rain outside wasn't real. Nothing outside of the door that you saw was. Just a pretty convincing set of forcefields and projections. Just tech. I thought the weather would deter exploring. Notice you're still dry.

"Thor, Hulk, you could probably go no problem. Steve, I'm not so sure you'd be unscathed, enhancements or not. I'm not going to stop you, but I'm going to tell you I need you for something, and it shouldn't be much longer until I can tell you what. I'm really sorry about all this, but, well... I'm trusting you. And asking you to trust me."

They don't speak for a moment, but eventually they concede, at a loss for what else to do. Steve stays behind when the others leave, still looking out the window. He doesn't speak until the door closes, turning and moving purposefully towards Tony.

"Your office doesn't have windows, Tony," he tells him, his tone almost warning, and Tony just sighs, but doesn't turn to face him. 

"No," Tony agrees.

"Tell me the truth, Stark." Steve commands, and everything goes dark.

There is nothing in the darkness but a pale blue pulse of light, at least not that he can make out before his eyes begin to adjust. He can just make out the dark shape around the light's source when it speaks. 

"Welcome back again, Cap. Again." There's a pause, and something that's an amused exhalation of air. "Again."


	5. Chapter 5

__

The bombs fell, but there are bonuses to being small. Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne survive, the worse for the wear. The world is nothing but chaos and giant swathes of nothingness by the time they come around, half a country away from where they started. From each other. It takes Hank a month of travel, most of it spent sick and starving to get to New York City and the remnants of the Avenger's mansion, the last place he thinks he has a chance of finding someone. Regrouping. Seeing Janet again.

Jarvis invites him into the mockery of the ruins, still functional, somehow, and the air there does not burn as much as the rest of the world. He takes the lift down, to almost the lowest level, and eventually finds Tony.

Tony Stark is sitting in a room so obnoxiously dark that Hank can't even make him out, except vaguely, and he asks about Janet. 

Hank's hopes drop like a stone, and he is forced to tell him he doesn't know. To ask Tony what he's doing down there, sitting in the dark after the end of the world doing nothing.

"I'm not doing nothing. In the space of this conversation I'm going to have done more than you could have in a week."

Hank asks him if he's lost it, if that's why everyone else left him down there. Tony corrects him, and tells him that they're there, Thor, Steve, the Hulk, they're alive. He tells him what he's doing, tells Hank he can fix him up. That he needs his help, Jan's too, whenever she gets there.

"You're a monster." Hank tells him, "A narcissistic monster, and I always knew it deep down, but I guess you're showing your true colors right now."

"Hank, please." Tony's voice is too distracted to sound truly concerned, "You're really overreacting here, everything's fine, you can see for yourself..."

He leaves, before Tony can finish whatever rousing speech he has, a bad taste in his mouth. 

Hank walks away from the mansion and only looks back once, but keeps walking. He has to find Janet, and then he can come back. Then he can try to talk sense into Tony Stark.

It's the last time Tony Stark sees him.


	6. Chapter 6

There are at least ten things going on at once, and he is doing all of them. There are drones out doing the leg work, but he's controlling them, because for this he doesn't trust AI, he doesn't trust anything but his _own_ I. But there are things that need to be done, experiments that need running. His specialties have almost nothing to do with the things that are actually needed. Enough has been destroyed already, and technology is doing what it can.

The world is dead and he cannot wait for it to heal itself. For the slow, slow, gradual reclaiming of the parts that are damaged. He cannot sit back and watch it heal slowly, sit and nurse it. He hasn't nursed anyone, not that anyone really needed it. Not Thor and definitely not Hulk. There had been Steve, but... even then he couldn't watch too much, didn't need to do too much. He healed as he slept, was perfectly fine as he stood before him, blinking in the darkness and unsteady on his feet.

"Tell me what's going on," Steve tells him again, and his attention is still torn. 

The radiation will not dissipate quickly enough itself. Nothing is quickly enough for him. He is in a dozen places at once, collecting samples or running experiments. Trying to breed plants that will survive on the radiation, that will consume it. Trying to find any trace of life he can, samples to bring back. Knowledge, even. He is not a botanist, he is not a biologist. He knows technology and destruction but he learns. Works to heal the soil, to try to sponge the air itself, to do what he has never managed to do well enough for himself. 

"You saw already. It wasn't a window exactly, but..it was a lot closer to what's out there than the door." Tony tells him, casually, offhand. The end of the world and Steve just stares at him.

"In here. I remember this room. I've dreamed this room. Tell me what's going on in here."

There are drones out putting containment fields around the most heavily irradiated areas. He can manage a net that reaches most of the country and he works to further it even as he outreaches himself. There are things of greater importance than his limits, few as the ones he has yet to surpass are. He needs to be able to spread everywhere. To create plants to clean the world, to produce food. He needs to revitalize the soil, and he needs to find out where there is life out there. He needs the weather conditions to improve so he can launch the makeshift satellites that he's been managing to produce, so that he can regain access to the real ones. So that he can work on a broader scale, make all of this work better. Faster. So that he can find places with materials, or places to make materials.

"You've never dreamt it," Tony tells him, still distracted, "You've just been here, a lot. The world ended, and I'm fixing it, and I'm going to need you but it isn't _time_ yet. Can you please just _understand that_ -"

"How did I get here? Where are we?"

"It's the mansion, it's always been the mansion. Below it but, some of it's still up there."

"I meant down here, I was just-"

"You were just asleep."

The bombs fell, and whether or not they had his name on them, they were his responsibility. It doesn't matter that he had no way of knowing it was coming. The first dropped on the mansion itself and it was only barely prepared enough, they survived, but it was enough to knock everyone unconscious. It was enough to stop them from trying to stop the others. From managing. There was no way to predict for a suicide pact that would take down the world, some abrupt rudeness more than that of the person who jumps in front of a train at quarter of six in the morning to end it. If all you need to do is come somewhere near the ones who know the codes, to get them, if you've got someone who just needs to know the face of one person with access to that room.

"Do you know what it takes to destroy the world, really, really well?" Tony asks him, and for a second his eyes almost focus. It is dark but he bothers to make out the shape. To distinguish Steve. He doesn't bother to look at much anymore.

"What do you mean I was asleep? That wasn't a dream."

Through the cameras he can see more easily, he can see the chambers behind Steve, he can make out the Hulk and Thor, still asleep. Still frozen in time for all their lack of need. No, of course, it was the one that this was for the most that was out. Was questioning him when he needed to concentrate. To make sure the world they were in kept running smoothly while he fixed this one. Tried to expand that one so maybe, maybe, this would work better. So that his absence would be less of a hideously obvious missing piece to the entire puzzle.

"Virtual reality. I was almost telling the truth before, about outside of the door. But that's what it all is. You were asleep, they are now. It's the best way to keep your minds stimulated while the pods keep you in cryo. Probably more precaution than neccessary, especially with your track record, Captain, but..."

" _Why_? And why only them, what about the rest of team? Are they dead? Jan? Hank?"

"No," Tony starts to say, but somewhere dates flash before his eyes, and he stops almost short, for a moment he feels exhausted. "...yes. By now... ..."

It's the first emotion that comes into his voice, that he's acknowledged in a long time. The realization of the cascade of ignored passing time. It was easy to lose track, too easy. He remembers Hank walking away, and he remembers how long ago it was, and he remembers, for a moment, the ones that weren't _there_. He remembers Pepper, and for a moment everything he is controlling stops. The time Steve spent frozen is less than this by decades, and it is a moment before the droids function again, before he moves again. They are the same thing and he wonders for a brief moment that doesn't matter where he stops and ends, and then the lights come on, and he can't see, can see from somewhere else, Steve standing by the switch with his eyes shielded.

He gave himself less care in recovery than even the planet. Spent more time than he should have on interconnectivity, on training his brain to do as it should and building himself up as things failed, adapting so that as long as he was there he wouldn't need anything else, so that he could run off of his same battery and not need to care for himself, made something to plug into it to charge or feed power as he needed, cycling it and reharnessing it, recycling and slowing everything that he could manage. Keeping himself alive and him, for all he lost the identity in what needed doing. He stayed alive, hooked into any number of things, in something that was half a chair and half a suit, without the need to eat or sleep as long as he was there, with out the will to care for it or anything as long as he stayed busy. 

Somewhere, he knew, there were people, he'd detected bunkers, survivors, and he didn't know what to make of them. Of anything but the inscriptions on the plaques outside of them seen through footage relayed into his brain, all the information he had on the ones who took the world with them, and their apparent guilt in the act, the warnings they gave and the things they prepared and the life he would reach out to once the world was ready for it. It was working, but it wasn't perfect. It isn't ready and the idea of how long until it is terrifies him. He thinks of Hank's condemnation of his keeping them asleep, out of the way and out of the apocalypse, in a simulation that was either 'a cage or purgatory' and he knows that, like always, he knows best. That he was wrong, and he has talked to Steve out there before, and never had all of this on him, this sudden inexplicable weight. This feeling of eyes on him like he is a dead man, like he's a monster, and while he's filling in the blanks, something electric and vivid comes over him and he opens his eyes, distracted past all of it and still half-blinded by the light, by the source of the sudden _sensation_ , coming from nothing more than Steve's hand on some exposed part of his arm.

He stares at him, eyes wide, almost lost, and almost, almost, _alive_ , and it's a moment before he speaks, and the expression on Steve's face suggests that he's been rambling, and he has no idea how much he has said. "Sorry, Captain," Tony starts, and his voice is almost hollow, almost metallic, "I think the world's changed on you again and it's my fault."

The hand moves slightly, and the sensation is still almost enough to make him pull back if he could but he can't and doesn't and doesn't want to, and a smile that's trying to be charming, sure, something besides confused and angry slips onto Steve's face. "Accepted. I think it's as ready as it's getting out there, Iron Man. You seem a little lonely out here."

There is agreement in the hiss of released air when the pod doors open.


	7. Chapter 7

"Welcome to the end of the world," Tony tells them, as they wake up, and Steve removes his hand before their eyes have time to adjust to the light. He explains, some of it, cuts off Steve when he tries to help, and finishes off by telling them if they wanted to kill him, he'd appreciate if they'd at least give him a rain check to finish his work first.

There is some food stored, completely dehydrated, just add water, "Astronaut food," he describes it as, safe down there somewhere. There's enough of it to feed a city, in a pinch, but he grinds in the fact that it has to last. That there were - _are_ \- people who need it, and it's a matter of getting it to them. Healing the world so they can get to it.

Eventually he leaves them to let the knowledge sink in, and gets back to work. It doesn't make a difference except that he watches them that much more carefully. They don't speak to him, and he's not sure whether that's a good or a bad thing.


	8. Chapter 8

Hulk isn't sure how he feels about the ruined mansion. About the dead place outside. Time doesn't matter, and he doesn't have anyone to miss, and the ones who gave him trouble were, well, dead. It would have been easier without Bruce.

Bruce sulked, and it grated on nerves that were infamously thin on a good day. One where he hadn't found out he was being lied too. Bruce missed her, had been making a big deal out of it since the window.

"Stupid," he mutters at him, the mansion shaking under his footsteps as he tried to find where his room was. It wasn't there. He punched down the piece of wall that did stand there, and then another. He threw some of the debris away, as far as he could.

 _Stop that_ \- Bruce tells him, but he's ignored. It goes on for another few minutes, before he sees one of his thrown pieces hit aside. It takes him a minute to notice Thor standing down there with his hammer out, an almost challenging smile on his face from the distance.

They clear rubble that way for a short time, before there is nothing left of the place where the rooms once were. Hulk shrugs, down at Thor and shakes his head, and Thor just waves and yells up at him. "I leave only for a short while, there is something I must see to! Until then, friend Hulk!"

Hulk watches him fly off, lifting a hand to wave before turning his back to him. 

Again, in the corner of his mind, Bruce has gone annoyingly quiet but _there_ , which is almost worse than when he's talking. Hulk stomps away to try to escape him, eventually ending up back in the room that holds Tony. He grins at the man wrapped in wires in what may have been misinterpreted as a menacing way. "Got a job?" 

Tony blinks, and then looks at him, unperturbed if a little caught off guard. "You want me to give you something to do? Okay, no problem. Give me a minute to get some tech together, and you can help me gather some data, and drop some things off. You can get some, er.. moderately fresh air. The big stuff I still need a while to work on. I'll have some drones meet you by the door with the stuff, and by the time you get back I'll try to have finished up the satellites. You or Thor should be a big help getting them up in the sky where they belong. Whoever's back first."

"Okay." Hulk tells him, moving to go. He stops at the door. "...where'd Hammer-man go?"

"Home." Tony tells him simply, "He wanted to check in. You'll find your way back, right?"

He snorts, and waves a hand, stepping heavily in the direction of the door. "Hulk not stupid."


	9. Chapter 9

The air of Asgard is thick with magic when Thor arrives. So heavy and dark that for a moment it blinds him. He is unnerved by the feel of it, by the silence that hangs over his realm, the figures in the distance that he can see erecting something he cannot quite make out.

He knows that something is wrong by the feeling in his gut, and his hand grips tight on Mjolnir's handle. His father would be beyond the workers, and so he goes.

The statue's shapely figure comes into view long before he can make out the identities of the workers. There is a moment, brief and almost foolish where he wonders at the women he knows and what they may have done to garnered such commemoration in his absence.

When he sees the statue's face, the ideas flee his head, and when he sees the faces of the workers, he halts in mid air. 

Sif looks up at him, clothing worn and the warriors three behind her, all pulling on the rope. Her eyes widen at the sight of him, then narrow, and she smiles thin and dark, biting back a sharp laugh.

"Just as well," he can hear her say, just barely, but the next words are bell clear. "Now! Let her fall-" All of the workers holding ropes let it go as one, while he watches, and they are all faces he recognizes as well. The statue breaks when it hits the ground, and he can hear the sound of satisfaction from Sif even as he draws nearer.

They take weapons from the ruins of the statue as he watches, and he moves to approach Sif but she ignores him. She walks away, leading the group towards the castle and he follows, calling her name once he is close, aware of the talk behind him.

"You have good timing for a dead man, Thor Odinson," she tells him, her voice sharp and cloaked, and her attention ahead. Her free hand was in a tight fist, and she altogether radiated confidence and something else.

"I am not dead-" Thor tells her, and she stops, in her tracks to throw him a glare that could have curdled his blood.

"Then you abandoned Asgard in it's time of need and you can rot with your traitor brother." She wields her tongue at him like a blade he cannot parry, and the words sting through his dread and confusion.

"I can explain-" he tells her, "I-

"I care not for your explanations, Thor!" Sif spits at him, something akin to disbelief in her expression that fades quickly back to anger. "Your mother is in Jotunheim and when I finish with the Enchantress I may kill you yet!"

She turned away from him with a flourish, and ran up to retake the lead of the formation, ignoring him when he called after her, or made offers of help, or tried again to explain. It is only when he does not stop that she relents, and tells him to go and distract the Enchantress, and make no mention of them. 

He goes.

The door is opened for him when he comes, and his expression beneath his helmet is grim as his mind goes over what he has seen. Sif's words, and her rage. He wondered at her mention of Loki, and worried for his mother if his old friend's words were true.

The walls are lined with guards, their faces covered, and no one else besides the three at the head of the room. He recognizes the Enchantress instantly, sprawled on the throne as if she had any right to be there, and it makes his blood boil in his veins once more. He knows the man standing on her right to be the Executioner, but he cannot recognize the figure on her left, seated on the floor with it's head bowed, form clad in silk.

"Welcome home, Thor." she tells him, her voice silken and gloating, and he lets Mjolnir fly without thinking, then watches as she waves it aside like a gnat. She clicks her tongue at him as if she is scolding a small child. "Is that any way to treat your queen?"

"Strange," Thor tells her, his voice dangerous as he bids his hammer to return to him, "You speak as if she is here, and I see nothing but a witch in my father's throne!"

He attacks, and fights, for a while, against her guard, and the others, until it is but the two of them standing, as the queen and her companion sit, unmoved, and Thor finds himself unable to move.

"You should have stayed asleep, 'god of thunder'," the Enchantress mocks him, as he struggles against invisible bonds, and the Executioner raises his ax.

A blood red snake leaps neatly from the Executioner's chest before Thor's eyes and he watches the man fall. The snake is around the Enchantress in a blink of an eye, colors shifting to green as it constricted around her.

There is a dark, sour humor on the Enchantress's face, and he still cannot move but he startles as the person on her left screams and starts to shake, a rattle of chains in accompaniment. The snake halts but does not release it's hold, and as Thor tries to concentrate on Mjolnir they remain in a standstill for a moment that stretches on much longer than its actuality, and he realizes that he recognizes the scream.

The hammer raises, slowly, finally, and...

 

Thor is not quite sure when Sif arrived, or what direction she came from, but he sees the arc of blade as it slices through the air and seperates the Enchantress's head from her neck.

The strangled scream continues until her head hits the floor with a dull thud that ends in total silence. His hammer returns to his hand like an afterthought, and he realizes he can move again.

Sif stands triumphant over the body still tightly bound by a snake, and spits on it, taking up the Enchantress's head by it's hair. She ignores the cloaked figure entirely, and the look that she gives Thor before she heads for the door is prideful and mocking in it's own way. It drives something like guilt into his chest, and he starts to follow her out, but stops.

The man in the cloak is curled on the floor, his breathing heavy, and he can see the snake constricting tighter yet. He can make out black hair when he gets closer, and he crouches beside him, reaching out to rest a hand on what he hopes is his shoulder.

"It's over," Thor says, quiet, and in the utter silence his words echo still and strange. "Loki."

The snakes vanish, but his brother does not look up at him, and he is left with a rush of conflicting emotions.

He remembers all too well the events that occurred and named and shaped his brother as a traitor. The stranger he became. He remember's Sif's words. But all the same, he remembers the time before that, the brother he knows. The pain that losing him had been. His actions there had not been those of a stranger.

Thor glances back to the entrance before he removes his hand and lifts his hammer to break the chains. Loki slips out of them with ease under his gaze, rubbing his wrists and looking tentatively at the hammer.

"Brother..." he starts, softly, but he stops when he sees Loki start to speak. There is a moment where nothing comes out, and he can't read the look in his eyes. He waits though, and Loki closes his eyes finally, still clutching his wrist.

"...she said your Midgard fell," he says, tense and sad, and deep in thought.

"...aye," Thor answers, confused as to the relevance at that moment. 

Loki breathes for a moment, and finally opens his eyes, seeking out his brother's gaze, and speaks again, trying and failing to even out his voice. His expression. "I have to find it, but I'll have something for you. I... I'll explain then, about before. It wasn't what... I'm sorry, Thor." his voice is quiet and broken, and he moves his gaze quickly, getting to his feet. 

Before he can speak, Loki is gone, and Sif is back in the doorway, expression set and a glint in her eyes, a crowd behind her. "We go to Jotunheim," she tells him, and he stares for a moment before he recognizes the invitation, a hesitant smile growing on his face.

He goes, with only a single look back at the place his brother had been before going through the door.


	10. Chapter 10

It's almost midnight when the knock comes on the door, all the stranger because the door itself is laying on the ground a few feet from the broken frame. Jarvis shares a few moments of pleasant conversation with the one requesting entry before receiving Tony's permission to let them in.

The mansion is silent with Thor and Hulk gone, especially with Tony's constant working, and the lack of more necessary things to do has Steve doing a lot of drawing.

The visitor's footsteps are far from silent as it makes it's way down to the elevator, and eventually to the place Tony never leaves, and Steve has taken up residence.

"MAY I COME IN?" The visitor asks, courteously, from the doorway. The voice makes Steve raise his head, and he gives a small, almost amazed smile.

"Ultron?" Steve glances back at Tony, who seemed to be lost still, in one of the million things he seemed to feel he was solely responsible for before looking back to Ultron. "Please, do." 

"THANK YOU," Ultron tells him, taking a few steps into the room. "IT IS GOOD TO SEE YOU, STEVE. ARE YOU DOING WELL?"

"I'm doing fine, other than a little deja vu." Steve tells him after a moment. Tony still isn't paying any attention when he looks over at him again, and he sighs, putting down his pencil and the notebook he'd found and standing up. "Let me get Tony for you..." he says, reaching out to touch his arm.

"THANK YOU, BUT THAT IS NOT NECESSARY. WE ARE ALREADY CONNECTED."

"Of course..." Steve murmers, quiet under his breath, though he remains standing. "What brings you here?"

"I HAVE A MESSAGE. REGRETFULLY, IT HAS BEEN DELAYED, BUT HULK HELPED ME ON MY WAY AGAIN RECENTLY." 

"Roll the tape, Ultron," Tony speaks up before Steve has a chance to, and surprising him. His expression is predictably distracted when Steve looks at him. 

"WITH PLEASURE," Ultron tells them before he can speak, again, or worry much more than he already does about the man in the cage of wires. Ultron's chest opens, projecting an image into the room that's far too familiar.

They both just stare at the small hovering hologram as Janet beams at them through it, waving. She looks older than they remember, even though she's flitting back and forth like she can't stay still, greeting them with a, "Hi Tony-"

"Jan, this is serious..." Hank says before moving into the picture, and Janet rolls her eyes before going to sit on his shoulder.

"I was just saying _hi_..."

"Business first," he tells her, a small smile barely visible before he looks back at the camera. "Well, first things first... I found her. Someone took me in not too far from the city and I helped rebuild an amplifier of their's. They helped me figure out where to go, and tried to take me in for a while. You probably didn't even notice the place, it's one big mess of magnetic interference. They had protection.

"I think by the time I got there, she was actually a lot better off than I was. She'd found a shelter, with survivors, and a couple little girls who thought she was a fairy." Janet grinned broadly from his shoulder. "They let me stay, and I set about helping them. I can't fix the world at large, but I've been helping them adapt to it. I've found a few concoctions that greatly increase radiation tolerance in humans, and it's very successful. We've got scouting parties that have found a few other shelters. Jan and I lead them and, well, we've yet to run into any trouble we can't handle.

"I've put a metric ton of data into Ultron here, I think it might help you with your goals in the long run. He's got a few samples of the anti-rad stuff too, with it, I think you lose your excuse for keeping the good Captain asleep." Janet kicked his collarbone, and he winced, then sighed.

"...right. I'm apparently supposed to apologize for being a dick. ...yeah, sorry." On his shoulder, Janet sighed. "I've put my location on here, and the other shelters we've found, and I've been telling people about you and the others. I think we can work together on this. So why don't you whip something up, wake the guys, and get out here while your legs remember what they are?"

The hologram flickered off of the welcoming smile Hank was giving, and cut off the end of Janet's "Bye-", leaving the two of them staring at Ultron.

It's a long moment before someone speaks, and it's Steve, something very hesitant in his voice, like he didn't want an answer to the question he was asking. "...how long ago did they send that?"

"Cap-" Tony starts to interject, but he's interrupted by Ultron.

"APPROXIMATELY NINETY-FOUR YEARS AGO. MY APOLOGIES AGAIN, FOR THE DELAY IN IT'S DELIVERY.."

The room falls into silence.


	11. Chapter 11

Before Steve even voices his desire to try what Ultron had told them about, Tony tells him he's already working on reproducing it. Trying the pre-existing ones were out of the question, and for what felt like another age, there was nothing for him to actually do. 

He draws, like he had before, and when Tony can spare him he talks to Ultron. Or to Tony, in the rare incidents he actually opens his eyes and asks, mostly, if there's anything that he needs.

It's something of a godsend when the vaccination is finally ready, simply because he will be able to go further than the yard. He will be able to be useful, even if he still worries about Tony, and especially the idea of Tony in there alone.

He administers it himself, with a sterilized needle and careful instruction, and he smiles up at Tony as he watches. Because he watches. It ranks far from the worst injection he's ever had, and he makes a joke about the fact. Tony sends Ultron off to find out if the shelters are still populated, and tells Steve he's working on something for him and when it's done he'll have a mission.

Steve accepts that without complaint, calling on his reserves of patience as he tells Tony he's going to get a little fresh air.

Everything is fine until he stands up and his head starts to spin. He falters for a moment as he tries to keep standing with the nausea ebbing in his stomach, and then he starts to fall and everything goes dark.

He awakens to the sound of his name echoing in his hears, over and over again, while he drifts into something like consciousness and eventually opens his eyes in something like confusion. _Tony_ , he realizes, and by that time his name has stopped and the only sound in the room is breathing. Before he can even try to gain answers from the ceiling, he remembers where he is and what happened, and he sits up, taking his time as he tries to get his head together.

That changes when he catches a glimpse of Tony, hanging half out of his strange seat, his expression still panicked, and wires pulled free of his arms in some spots where he'd tried to reach out, leaving him with tiny bleeding wounds. He's standing before he realizes that he feels absolutely fine, and he waves off Tony's questions of if he's alright, moving in and asking Tony if _he_ is, and getting nothing more than a shake of the head in response.

Steve pauses, and it's a long moment before either of them do anything but breathes. Steve almost misses the small beckoning motion Tony barely manages to make, but he obeys, moving closer and reaching out under the assumption he needed a hand getting back into his seat properly. Tony moves before he can manage, a look of concentration on his face mixed with the remnants of the fear of what was now only a few moments ago, and he manages to drape his arms around Steve in some semblance of a hug, loose but almost desperate, even if he closes his eyes at it.

Steve returns it, careful and barely breathing as he can feel the too-fast beat of Tony's heart, and he listens as Tony curses him out briefly, and he apologizes dutifully.

There is something far away but different about the look in Tony's eyes when the finally let go and Steve guides him back into place in the machine he wants him out of more than just about anything just then. He watches while Tony reattaches things, arms shaking at even that meager exertion, and something in his chest hurts when Tony catches him looking and gives him a smile that isn't supposed to be grim but fails. He winces, or comes close to, and it reminds Tony of what happened. It's barely ten minutes before Steve's been scanned at least twelve different ways and deemed perfect.

Five minutes later, Tony is back to paying attention to fifteen things at once, and none of them are him. He returns to drawing, and lets Tony do his work and his preparations, and doesn't notice when Tony turns his gaze outward and watches.


	12. Chapter 12

With every piece that falls into place, every fraction of progress that falls into his lap, Tony Stark can't help but feel as if everything is falling apart. What he has accomplished does not nearly measure up to the amount of time and effort he's put into it. He knew, eventually, that they'd want out, want to do something because that's what they did, but he didn't expect the cascade that followed. The message from Hank that arrived far, far too late for anything to be resolved, and the solitary time he had actually ever felt caged in his wires.

"You have to come out of there sometime," Steve tells him, and he knows that it is the truth. That there is no actual way for him to progress without it. The idea terrifies him, all the same, and he runs scans on himself that he can't bring himself to look at the results of. He has no right to be alive, and he is aware of that, even with all of his work. There, tapped in, he doesn't feel as if he's cheating death. He doesn't feel _human_. 

He sends Steve away to investigate the area Ultron had marked as the place Hank had gotten help before, reassuring the soldier that he was well protected there, as if there was anything left to attack. The trip should take somewhere around two weeks, and Tony only hopes that it's enough time given what he has to work with. 

The plans are there, and Jarvis is as wired into everything as he is, and if nothing else in the past few decades he's managed to program advanced precision control into his robots. He scripts new AI for his droids as he works, one at a time, until he's actually able to focus. Until he is staring at something standing before him gleaming silver and close enough to touch.

He reaches out, and the metal is cool under his fingertips, smooth and familiar to the touch, and he smiles, thin.

Tony Stark doesn't check the scans, and it takes him the better part of the day to pull himself out of the chair, but he refuses Jarvis's offer of mechanical aid. He is bleeding, and bruised, and barely better than naked, but he pulls himself forward anyway. He uses the wall for leverage to stand and he has never felt weaker in his life, he has never felt more exhausted. It doesn't stop him from breathing the word to Jarvis though, and taking the careful movements neccessary to get his feet into place. He falls five more times before he manages to stand, and there's a robotic grip on his arm by the time he has, holding him there. It's hard enough to bruise further but if he had the energy, he'd smile.

" _Assemble_ ," he breathes, barely more than a thought but it is enough and a sort of joy grows as the metal pieces over his skin until he is encaged by it, and it powers on. The relief is immense when the stabilizers finally kick in, and the suit begins to compensate for him, but he falls nonetheless, and laughs on the ground for long enough that he loses his breath.

Tony makes an order to anything that will listen for food, and he can barely take a few bites before the exhaustion gets the better of him and he falls asleep.

He works when he awakens, using the suit to help try to rebuild muscle where none has been needed, and eats what food gets brought to him, and eventually he makes it to the door of the room, and he crosses the threshold without hesitation. From down the hall Steve Rogers stares at him with something like disbelief.

The helmet slides back and Tony smiles, his face a mixture of exhaustion and pride as he takes another step forward. "Thought I'd take your advice, Cap," he tells him simply, "Welcome back."

They talk for the next few hours about what Steve found, and about the specs of the suit, and none of the reasons why he made the change. It's somehow easy, for all the strange newness of it, but Tony doesn't complain, and neither does Steve, even when Tony falls asleep against him in the armor. There's nothing comfortable about the metal pressed against him but he welcomes it anyway, even as he interrogates Jarvis silently, and finds out what he's missed.

They eat, once Tony wakes up, and comes as close to an apology as he can for falling asleep on him, and neither is sure exactly what to do next until Steve speaks up. "You should take that off."

Tony looks up at him like he's insane despite the uncomfortable press of the metal against his skin and he shakes his head. "I'm using it to train my body," he argues, fighting to put his expression into something like neutral. "Trust me, I'm not going to be any good to anyone outside of this for a while."

"You're going to put even more strain on your body rushing ahead of yourself like that, and that's a fact." Steve tells him, the words almost blunt. "That's the truth."

It takes two more hours for Steve to sway him to his side, and another two to get the armor off of him. Tony's jokes were waved away by Steve's lack of comment on his state, and the easy, almost too gentle way he helped him onto the couch.

The gentility ended there though, and he put Tony to work with simple arm and leg exercises while he hunted down something that he could wear. It leaves Tony exhausted before Steve even returns, disconnected and as weak as a kitten on the couch. He flirts just lightly with him when he insists on helping him put the clothes on, drunk on fatigue but not enough to miss a flit of a smile across Steve's face, under the far too serious brow.

They continue on like that for a few weeks, the pair of them sleeping on the couch that was only barely better off than the floor. He pushes him harder as the time goes on, and Tony raises to the challenge, for all the continuous fatigue and exhaustion, until one day he wakes up before Steve and slips off.

The suit is already in the best approximation of a lab they have when Tony gets there, and gets to work on fine-tuning it with his own two hands. Steve finds him eventually, but says nothing, and hours later Tony is still working, with such a tired, satisfied smile that Steve doesn't have the heart to stop him until he's nearly dropping off in his seat.

"...I'm calling them back in the morning," he tells Steve, his hand on the other man's arm for the barest modicum of support as they near the couch, and his answer is something like silence. They lay on the couch again, the closeness a neccessity that's since become comfortable. Tony falls asleep more easily than he ever has, and dreams the imagines the barest graze of something against his forehead before in the last few instants he's awake.


	13. Chapter 13

By the time the call comes, Hulk has started to question how the dead world is supposed to be. He finds the robot first, stuck in a crevice, and recognizes it. It tells him where Hank and Jan are, and he grins almost deviously as he heads off in the direction. Nothing shoots at him, and he gets there in almost no time. He thinks of how stupid Tony has to have been to miss it, and when he's thinking of taking them back and showing off, he sees something small flying around some rocks. He grins again before he makes his move, cupping his hands carefully around the tiny figure.

By the time the call comes, Thor has left Jotunheim, his mother safe and his father awake, Asgard's numbers none the worse for the fight that the Frost Giants had put up. After fighting by their sides, there is no reason to explain himself but he still does, and though there are no apologies he feels more welcome than he had. He helps them to restore what damage the Enchantress had done Asgard while she remained in power because it is the right thing to do, because it is his responsibility, and because he has missed it. There is no mention nor sign of Loki, and Thor makes none, and tries not to fear that his brother was merely buying himself an escape. It did not feel like it then, and it does not feel like it, even as time passes. He starts to feel like he is at home again.

When the card attempts to obtain his attention, he almost doesn't recognize it's meaning. They are feasting, and finding the source of it lowers his spirits immensely as he stares at the card. He can feel the draw though, and he knows where he is needed more. No one is pleased by his announcement in the middle of the dinner, or the fact that he is leaving them so soon. They remind him that Midgard is dead and he tells them that Midgard needs him more than ever, that he has friends there that need him. He reminds them that Asgard is safe, with Odin awake, and that it was Sif that slew the Enchantress, and she does not open her mouth to argue his own involvement in the ordeal. He leaves, with a promise to return if they have need of him.

Steve is the one who sees the first figure on the horizon, confusion on his face when he realizes that it's neither Thor nor Hulk. They're smaller, and almost dangerously close by the time that he finally recognizes Bruce, a pack slung over his back and looking no worse for the wear than usual. He greets him with a wave as he jogs out to him.

"I think I'm starting to get an idea of how you feel, Captain," Bruce tells him with an ironic smile, shaking his head when Steve reaches out to offer to take his bag. "No thanks, I've got it."

"Did something happen out there? I don't know how safe it is for you to be walking around out there as yourself, Tony says it's still pretty irradiated."

"I...got a shot, while I was out. I'm fine, don't worry. I've got some innoculations in my bag, too, I think they could be useful for you and Tony, unless..." Bruce drifted off, his expression a mixture of questioning and thoughtful as he looked at Steve. Steve smiled.

"Ultron made it here, I've got all my shots, too. No offense meant, but that doesn't explain why..." Steve started hesitantly, keeping his tone as polite as he could manage.

Bruce's expression grew almost troubled for a moment. "Why my greener half isn't in charge? It's a long story -- one the others will probably want to hear too, if you can manage to wait a while. Suffice it to say, the Hulk isn't the best at dealing with things that make him upset that he can't solve by smashing." A very thin smile crossed his face, "I think it's actually a first for him."

Tony greets them, inside of the door, a vaguely accomplished grin on his face that got the smallest hint of one in return from Steve. He greeted Bruce, resting an arm on Steve's shoulder as the three of them walked back, further into the mansion. It's not until a few hours later that Thor finally shows up, and he waits until the greetings are finished to turn seriously to Tony, momentarily ignoring the others in the room. 

"Before I left, I told you that I wanted to see the state of Asgard before I accepted your apology..." Thor tells him, something dangerous in his words, and the others look between him and Tony in silence.

"Yeah-?"

"I do _not_. There was nothing to gain by keeping me locked away in sleep. Asgard was overtaken; it is free now but that does not change history. My loyalities do not change, nor does anything else, but I do not forgive your actions, Tony Stark." He stands firm, and there is a long moment before either man breaks contact, but in the end, Tony closes his eyes, lowering his head.

"...fair enough." Tony says, his voice verging on quiet, but his head is raised and his voice back to it's usually volume when he continues. "It was kind of a stupid thing of me to do. I owe you one for sticking around."

Thor shakes his head, smiling just faintly. "We are friends, are we not?" They share smiles, and the tension in the room elevates to the point where Bruce feels capable of clearing his throat, eyes focused on a corner of the room as their's turned to him.

"Speaking of friends... If this is a good time.." He scratches the back of his neck, and takes a deep breath when he doesn't receive any objections, keeps talking. "You haven't heard yet, Thor, but while we were away, it seems that Tony and Steve got a message from Jan and Hank, about a few shelters with survivors in them. The Hulk helped their messenger along and, well... Got pointed in their _direction_. See.. as far as the messenger - Ultron actually - knew, they were alive. He wanted to bring them back, and.. I can't get the reason out of him really but there it is. We found the place that was mentioned, and he thought he saw Jan, small, so he tried to catch her.

"It wasn't Jan. It was another girl with the same abilities and, well.. he scared her. Luckily, she chose flee over fight, and he followed her back to the shelter. She recognized him, by the time we got there, and...they spoke for a minute, and he learned that they'd died.

We were invited in after that, only the door wouldn't fit him, and so... That would be why I'm around. The fact that he gave in though, and let me out, makes me think he may actually be hiding, at least a little. The girl turned out to be their grand-daughter, and-"

He goes on, even after his interruption by Tony's laugh, talking about their current situation, and suggesting that working together with them could be an excellent idea.

"My thoughts exactly," Tony tells him, a grin slipping onto his face even with Steve's hand on his shoulder. "We're heading out in a month."

They spend the month preparing, gathering what they can take with them and devising the best way to carry it while Tony spends his time working on improvements onto his suit, and it isn't long before the Hulk shows back up after an accident that loses them a lab. No one is injured in it, and eventually, satisfied that they are prepared, they head out.

They make camp halfway across the country the first night, despite the lack of need for it. Hulk and Thor are tireless, and Tony more than capable of continuing on in his suit, carrying Steve, but for Steve's insistence that they stop lest they miss something in the darkness. Thor watches, idly, as Steve helps Tony out of the Iron Man suit and says nothing. They go into the small tent that they had bid Hulk to carry to sleep, and he watches as Hulk curls up next to it. 

 

Tony's arc reactor makes it brighter in the tent than it is outside of it, a fact that only emphasized his damp shirt causing him to shiver a little from the cold of the night air. "Air conditioning," he comments, idly, grinning over at Steve even as he averts his eyes, "Knew I forgot to put something in that suit."

Steve gives him a small smile as he lays down, legs curled slightly to keep from sticking out of the tentflap, and Tony lays close to him, unable to help noticing when it makes him tense. "We should have stopped sooner," Steve says quietly, even as Tony opens his mouth again.

"You're uncomfortable, aren't you? You seemed okay when..."

Steve smiles, nervous, and Tony thinks he can see a faint blush come to his cheeks. "That was... Sharing the couch... Thor and Hulk are right outside of this tent."

"You think they're going to care that we're keeping warm? Don't tell me you're not cold, you look downright blue from over here..." Tony tells him, and there is a second's pause before Steve catches on and gives him a small smile, his eyes going to Tony's chest.

"I wonder why that could be."

Tony grins, his eyes more serious than his expression as he tries to meet Steve's, a hand on the other man's shoulder. He moves after a moment, just a fraction closer, and as he hears Steve's breath catch he stills. "I'm not asking you to have sex with me, I'm not even asking you to kiss me right now. I'm just after a little shared body heat because I don't think either of us wants to freeze to death. Please?"

He's close enough that he can feel Cap take a deep breath, but before he can open his mouth again, Steve has moved to drape an arm over him. "Sleep," Steve tells him, and he lays there, comfortable for a moment before he closes his eyes, and a memory resurfaces of what he's sure were lips against his forehead. Tony opens his eyes again, putting an arm over Steve in return. 

"If I _did_ kiss you..." Tony starts to say, his voice low, and he can feel Steve shift. A moment later he feels Steve's lips on his forehead again, just barely bolder than the time before.

"I've taken care of that now," Steve tells him, soft and far from as sure as he usually is. "Now, sleep." 

"Yes sir," Tony smiles, pure and amused at the same time, and shifts one final time to get comfortable before they both drift off.

 

The stars are clear in the sky, if still foreign, and Thor sits out to watch them, not tired. There is no need for a watch to be kept but he does not plan to sleep, and does not need to. He does not want to either, after all of the forced sleeping that he had done. In the great, empty expanse, Midgard feels too much like another dead realm to give him comfort. The differences between them lie only in the fact that there are people left to strive for the realm's restoration. It is enough of a difference to give him hope.

Thor watches as the sky moves, content to lay on the ground and watch it. Long hours pass before he has any interruption, twilight draped upon him and the sound of footsteps coming from the darkness.

He gets to his feet silently, taking his hammer as he does. His eyes cannot make out the location the sound, but his ears can, and he raises his hammer. "Who goes there--?" Thor asks, as a brief flash of lightning momentarily fills the area. In the light, he catches just a flicker of them, of him. Of Loki wide-eyed and staring at the drawn hammer, looking almost afraid.

"Your brother," he hears, and he is overcome by the realization that he had not been lied to. It wasn't usually him that was, but after... He turns his head to glance back at where he knows the others are in the dark, but he hears nothing from them. 

"Loki..." Thor says, almost disbelieving, the word coming late enough to his lips that his brother has already neared and pushed something wrapped in cloths into his hands, made warier yet by the silence.

"Let..." there is a strain in Loki's voice, and he can hear him swallow, gathering thoughts and nerve and voice. "Let me explain. About...then. I didn't... I was not myself."

Thor stares at him, the object that had been thrust upon him warm in his hands but decidedly less important than the struggling man before him. "...let us sit then. Standing here feels like too much of an argument." Loki hears his smile in the darkness, and he can picture it in his mind, even as he follows Thor's lead and moves to sit before him on the ground.

"I was not myself," Loki tells him, his voice quiet and almost wavering. It is too much, after all this time, but he pushes on, ignoring the hurt in his chest and his fears. "My will was not my own. She... She whispered words into my head, and I obeyed them. It wasn't any conscious decision. If I had been able to stop it--" His voice catches, and Thor is left with an urge to reach out. The words sink slowly into his understanding, and he stays there, still, even as his brother continues. "I would never, brother. I beg you, know me well enough to find it in yourself to believe me, even if you cannot forgive me. I won't hold my gift ransom for forgiveness, but..." His voice dips softer yet, as he speaks on, and it makes Thor's chest ache to hear him like this. "You are all that I- You are all that I have ever had, brother. Please..."

"She..." Thor starts, almost questioning, unsure of how to even touch the rest of his brother's words. The honesty he knew was in them, for all that he knew of many people who would deny him capable of it at all.

"The Enchantress," Loki answers almost carefully , unnerved by his brother's silence , his lack of response. He bows his head.

"That witch!" he exclaims, and his volume makes Loki look up at him, trying to gauge his expression without light. "And of the way I found you? How long had she had thee there? For what purpose, for how long?" There is anger in Thor's words, directed anywhere but at his brother, directed at an enemy barely met and already finished.

He can see Loki still at the question, and what he thinks must be him shaking his head. His words are tight when he speaks, eyes cast to one side. "It doesn't bear mentioning, brother. I-"

"I should stride into Niffleheim myself so that I might retrieve her and return her there with these two hands!" His voice raises, but the others do not stir, and he can see a slight shimmer in the air between them, even if he cannot make out the thin, worried smile on Loki's face. The almost pained expression.

"It's fine. I swear that telling you wouldn't benefit either of us. I'm sorry for what transpired before. I am..'

Thor shook his head, not calming by far. "I cannot forgive what is not your fault. I hold no grudge against you, and if anyone deserves an apology it is you. I believed the witch's manipulations your own actions; treated you as everything the others think you to be. I would have forgiven you if you had merely apologized, I missed you brother. Had you given me the time before I would have told you that you need not to bring me gifts to win my favor."

He held out the wrapped object that he had been holding almost absently, offering it back to Loki. He merely shakes his head. "No. I've given it to you, it... Open it, at least.. It's... It's a gift from your brother, it would be disrespectful not to..." Thor gives him just a sliver of a smile as he hears his own words of what felt like long past, and he lowers his head to focus on the object as he unwraps it, stripping off the cloth.

It isn't long before he is faced with a glowing blue light, and he looks from the cube to Loki with a questioning gaze, finally able to truly make out his brother's face washed in the light. "What is this..?" he asks him, biting back the barest feeling of familiarity the object gave him.

"Someone called it unlimited power," Loki tells him, his small smile almost painfully hopeful for acceptance. "I...believe that you could use it to rebuild your Midgard."

"And to think that I was hoping for a paper mask," Thor tells him, soft, and there is something real in the smile he gets that prompts one from him in return, even as he tries to wrap his head around what he holds in his hands. In the end, he wraps it up instead, placing it safely at his side as he looks back to his brother. "Thank you."

There is a moment of silence before Thor shifts, pulling his brother into an embrace that is met with shocked tension fades a moment later before it is returned. He can feel Loki just barely clinging, and it is a moment longer than it may usually have been before. "Have you seen the stars here?" Thor asks him, the question almost leading as he moves to lay back down as he had been. 

Loki remains sitting upright, but he looks to the sky, quiet. "They're clearer than they used to be, aren't they?"

"Aye," Thor tells him, and they just watch for a few cautious minutes, until he speaks again. "Will you go home now?"

Thor doesn't need to see it to hear the small, forced smile in his brother's voice. "So they can conclude I'm twice a traitor? ...I can't."

"Then stay with me," Thor tells him simply, turning to look in his direction, "They would have no complaints, I promise you."

 

"...is that what you want?" Loki asks him, and there is hesitance in his voice with the hope, the fear.

Thor smiles at him through the darkness, "I would like nothing more. Lay with me, brother. Decisions can wait until morning if you want.."

Loki shook his head, moving to lay down next to him, more than weary, and grasping the edge of his cloak. "I've decided."


End file.
